Buying Some Time With Daddy
by siouxsmn
Summary: How does Jeff react when his five-year old son asks him a question?


_My mom sent me an email that had this story in it. Actually, it just referred to a father and his son, but I thought it would make a perfect Thunderbirds story. The timeframe is that Alan is 5 years old and it takes place about a year after Lucy died. Since my betas are busy with the next chapter of What's Good For the Goose, this story has been beta'd. So any mistakes are all mine. _

TBTBTBTBTB

**Buying Some Time With Daddy**

Jeff Tracy came home from another late day at work, tired and irritated, only to find his five year old son, Alan waiting for him at the door. He wondered briefly where the rest of his boys were and why Alan wasn't in bed yet.

"Daddy, may I ask you a question?" Alan asked timidly.

"Yeah sure, what it is?" Jeff replied somewhat gruffly. Since the death of his wife last year, he literally threw himself into working almost around the clock and gave very little time to his sons.

"Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"

"That's none of your business. Why would you ask such a thing?" Jeff said angrily.

"I just want to know. Please tell me how much you make an hour?" begged Alan.

"If you must know, I make 50 an hour," an exasperated Jeff told his son, not really thinking about how much more than that he really did make an hour. He WAS the owner of the company, after all.

"Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. "Daddy, may I please borrow 25?"

Jeff was furious. "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities."

Alan quietly went to his room and shut the door.

Jeff sat down and started to get even angrier about his youngest son's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, Jeff had calmed down and started to think, 'Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that 25.00. Alan never asked for money before, usually it was Scott, Virgil or John who would need that amount of money for something for school or sports. Jeff walked up to Alan's room and opened the door.

"Are you asleep, son?" he asked.

"No daddy, I'm awake," replied the small boy.

"I've been thinking. Maybe I was too hard on you earlier" explained Jeff. "It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the 25 you asked for."

Alan sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. Jeff, seeing that Alan already had money started to get angry again. Alan slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" Jeff grumbled.

"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," Alan replied happily. "Daddy, I have 50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."

Jeff was flabbergasted at the request of his baby. He put his arms around his youngest son and hugged him, remembering the words said to him by one of his Vice Presidents, an old friend that knew the pain the Tracy family was going through with the loss of Lucy a little over a year ago. His friend said, _"You should not let time slip through your fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to you, those close toy our hearts. If you die tomorrow, the company that you are working so hard for would stumble, but they would find a way to move on. The family and friends you leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. They can't replace you, ever."_

Jeff sniffled as he pulled out of the hug with Alan and sat him down in his lap. "Alan, I would be happy to spend dinner with you tomorrow night, and you know what?"

Alan shook his head. "What Daddy?"

Jeff tweaked his nose, making Alan giggle. "You don't have to pay me for the time."

Alan looked up, confused and his bottom lip started to tremble. "But, if I don't pay you then you can't make a 'pointment with me."

"Oh sweetie," Jeff sighed. He was about to respond when he noticed his four other sons standing in the doorway of Alan's room. "Come here, boys."

"What's wrong, Dad?" Scott immediately asked, noting that both his father and Alan appeared to have been crying a bit."

"Nothing's wrong, son. Your little brother just opened my eyes a bit too how much I've been gone and I want to apologize to you all for it," explained Jeff.

"Its okay, Dad," Scott tried to assure his father. "We understand how important it is for you to work hard now to get your company going." Scott gestured to his other brothers as he spoke and they all nodded in agreement.

Jeff only shook his head. "No, boys, it's not okay. Getting Tracy Enterprises up and running is important to me, but it is _definitely_ not more important than all of you are. He pulled back and looked at Alan. "Tell you what, how about we all agree that every Sunday we'll spend the entire day together and have dinner at night. I'll also make sure to try and get home more often for dinner, Alan. You don't have to buy time with me, okay?"

Alan smiled and threw his little arms around her father's neck. Jeff grinned and hugged him back. Before he knew it, his four remaining sons were all joining in for a big group hug.

Catching Scott's eye over the shoulders of two of his sons, Jeff knew it was the right thing to do as he saw Scott toss him a wink.

fin.

_If you liked this story, please review!_


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